United States of America
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S.), America (/əˈmɛrɪkə/) or the Union, is a federal republic comprising eight Planetary Commonwealths with over 800 states, a federal district, and various self-governing territories and possessions. The territory of the United States on Earth stretches across the the American continents with a number of extra-continental territories (Australia, New Zealand, various Pacific islands, Britain, Ireland, South Africa, et al). U.S. territory beyond Earth includes a number of orbital habitats, the planetary commonwealths of the Sol System, and a handful of extrasolar colonies and embassies. With more territories than any other sovereign entity, and a population of over 5.7 billion people, the United States is the largest nation in known history by both total area and population. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city is New Richmond; twelve other major metropolitan areas—each with at least 11 million inhabitants—are New York, Dallas, Denver, Bradbury, Mexico City, Seattle, Chicago, Lima, Valhalla, Minas Tirith, and Venera. The United States is a highly developed country, with a post-scarcity economy marshaling the resources of the Solar System through the Quantum Economic Model. The U.S. is the foremost known military power, making up 90% of all military spending. The United States emerged as the Earth's dominant military power at the end of the Amero-Soviet Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a status that it struggled to reconcile with its republican origins until the end of the Little Cold War and the collapse of the international system Following the Flood, and the political and economic upheavals of the early 21st Century the US remained the dominant power of Earth. Following the Third World War the US cemented its position of dominance in space, and by the 2080s had begun the permanent colonization of Mars following a half century of exploration and terraforming. The remainder of the 21st century and the early 22nd Century would be defined by a new age of exploration, a series of military confrontations, proxy wars, and technology races all revolving around the rivalry between the United States and Mexico. The end of the Third Mexican-American War and the Treaty of San Juan in 2140 left the United States as the world's sole recognized military power (though smaller powers continue to defy the international system), and established several associated states to unify much of the Earth's economy. Etymology In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci. The former British colonies first used the country's modern name in the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. When Mars and the moon were formally recognized as territories of the United States in 2054, some political etymologists began calling for changing the country's name to suit the fact that it was now a nation that occupied two distinctly different landmasses on two planets. These initial woes were brought up again after the annexation of the Anglosphere which brought Australia and the British isles into the Union. During the Third Mexican-American War Lionel Halvidar and the Union Party promoted the notion of America being more of an idea than a just physical territory, and the country should encompass those that subscribe to that idea. The short form the United States has increasingly become the standard in recent years, with only people living in the Americas on Earth actually referring to themselves as Americans more often than their planetary association. History 'Native Americans and European settlers' The indigenous population of the Americas migrated from Asia as early as 42,031 BCE as confirmed by chronoscope data, and while there were significant examples of complex civilization, the lack of domesticated livestock limited the Americas ability to develop advanced pre-industrial socieities as had come about in Eurasia. After the arrival of European settlers in the late 15th century, millions of indigenous Americans were killed from acts of genocide and the spread of imported diseases such as smallpox. While there had been limited contact between Europe and the Americas for centuries, advances in shipbuilding technology and the growth of Europe's maritime economy during the 15th century drove a wave of colonization to the Americas that was largely concerned with the exploration of basic resources and the farming of cash crops that could be exported back to Europe. The demand for labor intensive cash crops like cotton, sugar, lavender, and tobacco gave rise to the Atlantic slave trade, which saw the enslavement of 12.5 million Africans to work the plantations of the Americas. 'Independence and expansion' Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. The Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July 4, 1776, formally establishing the United States of America as an independent nation-state. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak central government that operated until 1789, when the U.S. Constitution was adopted. Slavery was eventually outlawed outside of the Southeastern states, but the division of Slave States and Free States remained the dominant political issue for much of the nations' early history. The primary foreign policy objective of the United States during this period was the consolidation its position on the North American continent, which included a policy of territorial expansion known as Manifest Destiny, that lasted until the Civil War. This period saw numerous wars with indigenous peoples, political crises and negotiations with European colonial powers, and the First Mexican-American War, which saw the US secure its position over the Mississippi River by annexing almost half of Mexico's territory. Westward expansion also included a policy of forced relocation of native peoples to reservations, and acts of genocide through the spreading of diseases and the destruction of food sources. 'Civil War and industrialization' The issue of slavery was settled during the First Civil War where the slave-holding rebels formed Confederate States of America out of the Southeastern states after the election of Abraham Lincoln and the anti-slavery Republican Party in 1860. The conflict lasted until 1865, and established the American national-identity. The Civil War is also generally recognized as the first modern, industrial war, and its conclusion saw industrialization rapidly expand throughout the country, hastened by an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Europe. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, provided labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth. By the end of the 19th century the US had established itself as the Earth's largest economy. 'World War I, Great Depression, and World War II' The United States remained neutral for most of the First World War, and only joined after the February Revolution toppled the Russian monarchy and threatened to give Germany the upper-hand with only a single front in the west. The US joined the war for its last year and helped force the surrender of the Central Powers in 1918. After the War, the United States underwent an economic boom that lasted until 1929 upon which the economy entered the Great Depression. Economic reforms under the Roosevelt administration, known as the New Deal, helped push the country toward recovery. It would not be until after World War II that the economy would fully recover. The US had provided economic aid to the Western Allies, but remained out of the war until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Upon joining the Allies, the United States provided the Naval and Air Power that tipped the balance away from the Axis, forcing Germany to fight a two front war that ended with the Soviet's capture of Berlin. In the Pacific, the US fought a long, bloody campaign with the Japanese Empire. The conflict in the Pacific would not come to an end until after the US destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the some of the first nuclear weapons. 'Amero-Soviet Cold War' The United States and Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during a Cold War that dominated global military affairs from 1947 to 1989. The Soviet Union's position over Eastern Europe made it the world's second largest economy and a direct threat to US interests. To prevent the Soviets from potentially dominating all of Northern Europe and becoming the world's dominant economic power, the US created NATO and provided economic assistance to its allies, as well as establishing a containment policy. Both powers competed in a race for arms development which permeated their entire societies, and was primarily focused on the development of more advanced nuclear weapons. This arms race gave rise to the Space Race, lasting from 1957 to 1972 in which the United States successfully landed the first humans on the Moon, and achieved supremacy in both nuclear missile technology and early satellite communications. Meanwhile, the United States experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement, symbolized and led by African Americans such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel, used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination, ultimately leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The US eventually gained the upper hand against the Soviets after exploiting the political split between the Soviet Union and communist China, in which China became an anti-Soviet power informally allied with the United States. China's status as a hostile nuclear power forced the Soviet Union to overextend its military resources, eventually leading to economic decline and political reforms that caused the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. 'War on Terror, the Great Recession, and the Great Reset' The end of the Amero-Soviet Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union brought with it the end of Europe's position as the primary shaper of world events. The United States oversaw the expansion of the global economy, and encouraged greater economic interdependence, the greatest example of which was the European Union which formed in 1991. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people, and launching the United States into global War on Terrorism. The conflict consumed American politics for more than a decade until the resurgence of Russia became the more pressing issue, though it continued to be an important issue for the United States until the early 2030s. This period seriously destabilized the international system created after World War II, and contributed to the collapse of many nation-states in Eurasia, ultimately creating the power vacuum that led to the rise of Turkey and Japan the 2030s. In 2008, the US economy entered into the Great Recession, setting of a period of economic stagnation and political commonly referred to as the Great Reset. This era saw the breakdown of the sixth party system, the rise of radical fringe groups, and a level of income inequality and political corruption comparable to the Gilded Age. 'The Flood and Renewal' Main article: The Flood The loss of the South Greenland Ice Sheet in 2025 destroyed billions of dollars in homes and infrastructure while the subsequent reconstruction effort exacerbated the labor shortage, leading to the Market Crash of 2027. The situation in the United States continued to deteriorate with riots and civil unrest along with ever increasing acts of domestic terrorism by various fringe groups. The political upheaval of the Flood and the Great Reset led to a major shift in the power of the Federal government as Washington took more direct control over the economy. The Price administration established a highly competitive immigration system that would continue for the next half century. The 2030s and 40s saw a shift in the economic geography of the United States. The mass migrations caused by the Flood pushed America's population inward. The Gulf Coast and California saw the largest reductions in population as hurricanes left the Southeast all but uninhabitable, and the loss of the San Joaquin valley's agribusiness and water resources forced millions to resettle North and inland. The Southwestern economy's investment in the Solar industry and advanced manufacturing allowed those states to endure hotter summers and drier climates, and as a result the Sunbelt became the industrial heartland of America. As the cities of the Great Lakes held the last undamaged harbors on the continent, the bulk of all Atlantic trade began to flow into the Midwest, bringing an economic revival to those states. After the East Coast cities were partially reclaimed by Sea Walls, they remained important business centers, but America's economic heartland moved from the coasts to the interior and would stay that way until the late 2060s when the Coasts were largely reclaimed (though the economic decline of the Midwest wasn't really felt until the 2090s, and even then it was nowhere near as severe as it was in the late 20th century). The Midwest became generally more livable as it was too far inland to suffer from the perpetual hurricanes of the gulf coast, and the winters were more fair than before. The same could be said across much of the North-East (though hurricanes did occasionally make their way as far north as Boston). 'World War III and Colonization' 'Mexico and the Second Depression' Main articlse: Mexican-American Cold War, Second Depression The United States and Mexico were on friendly terms for most of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, tensions rapidly built on after the Mass Deportations of the Lachman administration. Between 2081 and 2093 the United States expelled millions of Latin American immigrants who had resided in the United States, mostly into Northern Mexico. Mexico's economy was also burdened by a surplus of labor, and could not allow so many people to enter their territory, and Central America would not allow many of these people to return their as well. Mexico's invasion and annexation of Central America to allow the relocation of these expatriates, ultimately led to the Second Mexican-American War and the outbreak of a Cold War between the US and Mexico. 'Pax Americana the Great Experiment' Main articles: Terran diaspora, The Great Experiment After the end of the Third Mexican War, the US completed the integration of the Colonies into the Union and established an imperial peace through a series of Associated states and protectorates, along with direct annexation of the former Latin American Union. The United States Space Force enforces this peace while the Space Colonies provide a surplus of food and natural resources for Earth under the Quantum Economic Model, which as of 2160 has successfully lifted the Free Associations and the Earth Commonwealth to above the standard of living enjoyed on Mars before the War. The end of the war also saw a new wave of mass migrations to the colonies, with the bulk of the Earth-borne refugees settling on Venus. Demographics The United States holds its cultural home on Earth but spans a number of planets and many moons and space stations throughout the Sol system and nearby star systems. The US capital of Washington DC is the Federal Capital of the United States. Population The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 5,775,324,512 including an approximate 1.2 Billion people living on Earth alone. The U.S. terrestrial population almost doubled during the 21st century, from about 300 million in 2000. The first most populous nation in the world, the United States is the only major quantized nation in which large population (≥1 billion) occurred during the last century, and it remains the most ethnically diverse society in the system. About 82% of Americans live in urban areas; about half of those reside in cities with populations over 100,000. In 2128, 11 megalopolises were recognized by the US Census: Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Chicago and San Antonio. It should be noted, that the largest city in the country is New Richmond on Mars. 'Language' English has been the de facto national language for most of the country's history, with Spanish being the only regional language, spoken throughout the Southwest, Caribbean, and Gulf Coast prior to the Third Mexican War. 'Religion' The United States is officially a secular nation: the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids the establishment of any religious governance. Terran religions are more common but less diverse than in the colonies where society is generally more secular, but home to dozens of new faiths. The largest religious domination on Earth is Christianity (35.4%), with Roman Catholicism being the largest sect. 'Social Welfare' The United States has a life expectancy of 188 years, largely maintained by an expansive social welfare system which covers basic housing, dietary, education, and medical needs. The American welfare state is organized under a Federalist model with local governments handling the day to day operations of education and healthcare facilities, while the Federal government sets broad policy goals managed by artificial intelligence systems. Government and politics Main article: United States Constitution The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to four levels of government, federal, planetary, state, and local; the state and local government's duties are commonly organized via online popular voting and computer subsystems that handle the treasuries and administrative duties. The federal government is composed of three branches: *'Legislative': The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. *'Executive': The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. *'Judicial': The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional, though many of the lower courts' duties have been relegated to computers. The House of Representatives has 875 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the Commonwealths by population every tenth year. The Senate has 16 members with each Commonwealth having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one-third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is elected by direct vote. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who can serve for life but must be reappointed every ten years. The Commonwealth governments are structured in roughly similar fashion. The governor (chief executive) of each Commonwealth is directly elected, but usually, is given Viceroy powers by the President. Some Commonwealth judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective commonwealths, while others are elected by popular vote. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review, and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended thirty-five times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the eight most recent Amendments make up the Second Bill of Rights form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. 'Parties and elections' The United States had operated under a two-party system for most of its history, however during the popular reform movements of the late 2020s this system collapsed and a number of minor parties came about. For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the mid-21st Century, the major parties have been the Progress Party founded in 2028, the Conservative Party founded in 2033, the Libertarian Party founded in 1971, and the Liberal Party founded in 2052. A number of minor parties have come into existence, on and off throughout the decades. Among those the Labor Party, alongside the Liberals, has been the only one that has continuously existed for much of the last century. Within American political culture, the Conservative Party is considered center-right, the Progress Party is considered center-left, and the Libertarian Party is considered to be a right wing reactionary party. The Liberal Party is considered to be a somewhat anachronistic liberal party, in that they advocate policies that appeal to laborers and rural voters. Political Divisions Main Articles: List of states and territories of the United States The United States is a federal union of eight Planetary Commonwealths and hundreds of states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The states do not have the right to secede from the union. In 2133 the 35th Amendment was passed to solve the problem of colonial administration. The individual states, almost entirely based off of online direct representation, had become too unruly to govern across multiple worlds. Representation was incredibly skewed, with the heavily populated states left to the mercy of a large number of Senators from the many underpopulated colonial states. To allow for fairer, more democratic representation and a greater level of autonomy for the citizenry, the Second Bill of Rights established the Four Tier Republic, creating planetary Commonwealths, that would administer the states and in turn be administered by the Federal Government. The Second Bill of Rights reformed both the House of Representatives and the Senate to represent Commonwealths instead of states, while internal governance of the Commonwealths would be left up to local choice, though most chose online parlaiments. The Commonwealths do not have the right to secede from the Union. The Commonwealths and their states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the only other areas considered integral parts of the country are the countless space stations and moon-based colonies. These stations and colonies are classified as territories and districts. Those born in the major territories possess U.S. citizenship. American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states. 'Free associations and protectorates' Main Articles: Associated state Other than commonwealths, America also has numerous protectorates and Free Associations. Free Associations are states that have signed a compact of Free Association with the United States. Under the compacts, the Free Associations still function as independent states, with their own governments, heads of state, military, and mostly independent internal affairs. However, financial and economic policy is controlled by the Quantum Economic Model (QEM), administered by the United States Department of Commerce. In addition, the Associated States recognize the president as commander and chief of their military. As such, while the Compact states are free to use their militaries and coast guards for internal security purposes, however, they are not free to declare war on other states, unless they have explicit American says so. Free Association states also have free visa-less travel between each other and the U.S. Most citizens of the associated states may live and work in the United States, and most U.S. citizens and their spouses may live and work in the associated states. and these nations have access to various U.S. programs, like disaster relief. However, they lack any representation in the U.S. government. Outside of the larger Associated States, are the protectorates, which, as a rule, tend to be smaller and exist as a result of Treaty obligations or as a decision to keep important shipping corridors free from conflict. Though, truthfully, they are closer to "protected states" rather than classically defined protectorates (which were considered part of their suzerain), as they maintain their own internal sovereignty and nominal independence. Protectorates are treated diplomatically like normal independent states by the United States government, but, as per individual treaties between each protectorate and the U.S., each state has ceded all defense formalities to the U.S., thus they do not maintain their own militaries. Free travel is not possible between them and other members of the U.S. system, and they are not immediately entitled to other American programs, but they are part of the Quantum Economic Model. Protectorates include Brazil, Quebec, Dubai, Aden, Abyssinia, Malay, Kurdistan, Israel, and Madagascar. Crime and law enforcement Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties. At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on a common law system. State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as appeals from state systems. Among developed nations, the United States has average levels of violent crime, gun violence, and homicide, though this is more germane to the frontier worlds while the inner colonies and Earth are much safer. In 2072, there were 3.2 murders per 1,000,000 persons, 1/10th that of neighboring Gran Colombo. The U.S. homicide rate, which decreased by 72% between 2050 and 2073 with the legalization of nano-surveillance technology and much higher standards of living, has continued to steadily drop since. Gun ownership rights are the subject of contentious political debate, though the number of firearms owners in the US is still, on average, higher than any other country. The US legal system operates relatively quickly given the 2030s reforms to the US legal system. Violent crime is near instantly detectable given that most people's clothes can detect any external trauma ventured on the body, which is immediately transmitted to local healthcare providers. Once this trauma is detected, the countless number of micro-surveillance systems spread throughout the local police jurisdiction focus in on the subject and alert local law enforcement of the incident. The perpetrator's every move is tracked, and often times the police will simply let the suspect return to their home and simply retrieve them once they feel they've gotten away. Arresting officers will detain the suspect and transport them to a courtroom, a small 20th Century Jailcell sized room where the accused is brought before a virtual judge and a jury made up of online volunteers. Trials tend to last an hour on average and a virtual lawyer offers any possible defense by algorithmically scanning volumes of legal proceedings, while the prosecuting attorney program simply shows the footage of the incident; cross examination is usually short given that the lawyer programs can instantly determine if the accused is lying based on the footage of the event, and genetic evidence gathered at the scene of the crime. If guilty, sentence is made on the spot by the virtual judge, who will either sentence the defendant to community service, a rehabilitation center, or prison. Rehabilitation centers have replaced conventional prisons for most offenses in the United States. The centers are places where therapists and neuroscientists try to decipher the why behind the crimes and prescribe the most prudent way of rehabilitating the convicts. If the person simply has some kind of genetic predisposition to violence they are given the opportunity to learn to control it, failing that they are forcibly augmented to be less aggressive. If they have any kind of mental trauma, rehabilitation officers help them work through it as best they can. If they are simply in poverty they are sent to a skill training center to discover any hidden talent or passion. Repeat offenders are extremely unlikely are given the effectiveness of counseling based on modern science's ability to scan and perfectly decipher the nature of a brain. At the start of 2074, more than 250,000 people were incarcerated nation-wide, roughly one in every 4,000 adults. Recently Capital punishment has been abolished in the United States, like most nations. Since 2044, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death penalty as unconstitutional, there have been some 1,000 people given stasis-sentences. Most violent criminals are sentenced to social-reconditioning or rehabilitation. Economy The United States is a post-scarcity economy operates on a Quantum Economic Model first implemented on the early colonies in the Solar System but was adopted nationally in the 2130s. The US secondary capitalist economy is fueled by abundant natural resources and automated production of essential goods and services. Military The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Space Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and by the Department of the Navy during times of war. The United States began gradually building up its military after the Third Mexican-American War due to population growth and movements. By the 2150s, the US armed forces had 11.7 million personnel on active duty, most are stationed abroad. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 149,833,000. The Department of Defense also employed almost 78,349,000 civilians, not including contractors. The US maintains a enormous arsenal of 123,500 active nuclear weapons, most were activated after the Third-Mexican American War. Army: The US Army is now one of the largest of the three branches of the military, and most of which are stationed abroad. They primarily charged with patrolling and assisting US allies and protectorates. Navy: The US Navy consists of small light ships that handle close shore support, as well as a series of small interstellar cruisers that provide for tactical information gathering or if need be surface deployment or bombardment. All sea faring vessels are submergible and can be deployed from space. The DDG-3500 or Roughead class sea-cruiser is the standard large sea vehicle for close water support, while the Atlantis Class Space Cruisers provide support from space. Space Force/'Marine Corps:' The US Marine Corps receives the same weapons and equipment as the Army, though they also act as the chief air support force upon the retirement of the Air Force. They currently operate four primary aircraft, utilizing the Boeing F-51 Mustang II, the Northrop-Grumman A-24 Bobcat, the Boeing C-36 Stratotitan and the Lockheed Martin MV-47 Vulture. the Marines provide air-to-air, and air-to-ground support. All aircraft are capable of flying completely autonomously, though only the Vulture has accommodation for a physical pilot. After WWIII and Third-Mexican American War, the Space Force saw a massive surge in funding. The attack on American operations in space had a similar psychological effect on the US after Pearl Harbor, and the military became obsessed with securing America's dominance over space. There are 5,500,000 total space personnel in reserves. Category:United States